A Delaware Township man won $1 million in the scratch-off Rhode Island lottery while vacationing on Block Island.

Thomas Mistele, a science teacher at Hunterdon Central High School, became a millionaire on Monday when he bought a $20 ticket. It all started, he explained in an interview today, when he bought a $2 ticket and won $20.

“I went to cash it in, and said ‘give me one of those,” a larger scratch-off that cost $20 and won him that amount back.

“Then -- I thought it was a stupid idea -- but ‘give me another one,’ another $20 ticket, and he walked out onto the front porch to scratch it off.

“I knew it was a winner, but I brought it in to have the guy scan it just to verify everything was right” Mistele explained. When news seems too great, there’s that feeling it’s not true.

But it was, and Mistele started sharing word of his good fortune, first with the friend with whom he's staying on Block Island.

Then he called his mother and brother, who say he's the lucky one in the family. (Once before, he won $30,000 in the New Jersey Lottery.)

They good-naturedly gave him a hard time.

“Are you kidding? You are pulling my leg,” they insisted. But he wasn’t.

He’s not sure yet how he'll use the winnings. He says he plans to travel, buy a new car and save for retirement.

A new vehicle is high on the list since now he drives “a 10-year-old pickup truck that has met too many deer.” And like any other homeowner, he has “a few things around the house” to take care of.

Mistele, who teaches biology and environmental science at Central, just finished 11 years there. It’s his third career. A Virginia native, he was a biologist for the federal government, and then came to New Jersey to work for Johnson & Johnson before becoming a teacher, he said.